Shloka 57
कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira
यत् स्यादहिंसासंयुक्त स धर्म इति निश्चय: । अहिंसार्थाय भूतानां धर्मप्रवचनं कृतम्,सिद्धान्त यह है कि जिस कार्यमें हिंसा न हो, वही धर्म है। महर्षियोंने प्राणियोंकी हिंसा नहोने देनेके लिये ही उत्तम धर्मका प्रवचन किया है
yat syād ahiṃsā-saṃyuktaṃ sa dharma iti niścayaḥ | ahiṃsārthāya bhūtānāṃ dharma-pravacanaṃ kṛtam |
वायु-देव ने कहा: यह निश्चय है कि जो अहिंसा से संयुक्त है, वही धर्म है। प्राणियों की रक्षा—अहिंसा के हेतु—महर्षियों ने धर्म का उत्तम प्रवचन किया है।
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma is decisively characterized by ahiṃsā: an action or way of life counts as truly dharmic insofar as it is aligned with non-injury. The verse frames ahiṃsā not as optional virtue but as the purpose behind the sages’ instruction of Dharma—protecting living beings.
In Karṇa Parva, amid the war’s moral tensions, Vāyu-deva articulates a principled criterion for Dharma. The statement functions as ethical guidance: even in a context dominated by violence, the tradition’s highest teaching is presented as oriented toward the prevention of harm to beings.